Bipolar transistor with guard region

ABSTRACT

A bipolar transistor comprising an emitter region, a base region and a collector region, and a guard region spaced from and surrounding the base. The guard region can be formed in the same steps that form the base, and can serve to spread out the depletion layer in operation.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED CASE

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/611,074, filed Nov. 2, 2009, titled “Bipolar Transistor,” the entiredisclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to transistors, and morespecifically, to bipolar transistors and structures therein whichimprove their breakdown voltage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A semiconductor material has a maximum field strength that it canwithstand before the field starts ripping electrons from atoms, therebycausing breakdown in which the material becomes conducting, possiblycausing permanent damage.

The fabrication of doped regions to form a semiconductor device variesthe way field gradients occur within the material, and can varybreakdown voltages.

It is highly desirable to reduce the reduction in breakdown voltage thatoccurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention, a bipolar transistoris provided comprising an emitter region, a base region and a collectorregion, and a guard region surrounding the base.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method isprovided for manufacturing a bipolar transistor, including forming anemitter region, a base region and a collector region, and forming aguard region surrounding the base region.

It is thus possible to modify the electric field profiles within atransistor so as to increase the voltage at which it breaks down.

In some embodiments, a conducting layer may be placed above and extendover and beyond the guard region. This gives rise to the possibility ofextending a depletion region adjacent the guard region so as to reduceelectric field gradients near the guard region. In some embodiments theguard and base regions can be simultaneously doped.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will further be described, by way of example only,with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional representation of a prior artvertically fabricated PNP bipolar transistor;

FIG. 2 is a logarithmic plot of collector current versus collectorvoltage for different operating conditions of a transistor, and showingthe result of breakdown;

FIG. 3 is a representation of modified electric field gradients withinthe transistor shown in FIG. 1 at the onset of breakdown when thetransistor had been notionally non-conducting;

FIG. 4 is a representation of modeled electric field gradients withinthe transistor shown in FIG. 1 at the onset of breakdown when thetransistor had been on, i.e., conducting;

FIG. 5 is a representation of the transistor of FIG. 4 when thetransistor is on and with a collector-to-base voltage just a few voltsless in magnitude than that required to initiate breakdown;

FIG. 6 shows, in schematic cross section, a transistor in accordancewith a first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 shows a representation of modeled electric field gradients in thetransistor of FIG. 6 with the collector held at −80 volts with respectto the base junction;

FIG. 8 is a graph showing guard ring voltage versus collector voltagefor various guard ring-to-base separations;

FIG. 9 shows, in schematic cross section, a transistor in accordancewith a further embodiment of the invention, and also shows schematicallyan electric field contour within the transistor;

FIG. 10 shows the field potential within a transistor identical to thatshown in FIG. 9, but not including field plates;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a prior art transistor of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a transistor in accordance an embodiment ofthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description is directed to certain specificembodiments of the invention. However, the invention can be embodied ina multitude of different ways. It should be apparent that the aspectsherein may be embodied in a wide variety of forms and that any specificstructure, function, or both being disclosed herein is merelyrepresentative. Based on the teachings herein one skilled in the artshould appreciate that an aspect disclosed herein may be implementedindependently of any other aspects and that two or more of these aspectsmay be combined in various ways. For example, an apparatus may beimplemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspectsset forth herein. In addition, such an apparatus may be implemented orsuch a method may be practiced using other structure, functionality, orstructure and functionality in addition to or other than one or more ofthe aspects set forth herein.

Relative terms such as “above,” “below” and so on as used herein referto components as orientated in the attached figures, and should beconstrued accordingly.

FIG. 1 illustrates the layout of a typical bipolar transistor. Forexample, the transistor may be a PNP transistor. A skilled artisan willappreciate that the teachings disclosed herein also apply to NPN bipolartransistors.

The arrangement shown in FIG. 1 is a vertically fabricated PNPtransistor. The transistor 2 is formed above a substrate 10, which canbe a semiconductor carrier wafer. The substrate 10 may carry largenumbers of transistors, which should be isolated from one another. This,as is known to the person skilled in the art, can be achieved byproviding a well of doped semiconductor and forming a reverse biasedjunction. However newer technologies such as silicon on insulator (SOI)fabrication exist where individual devices can be built above aninsulating layer 12, which may comprise silicon dioxide, and enclosed byside walls 14, which may also comprise silicon dioxide. The transistor 2comprises a P-type layer 20 which acts as the collector of the bipolartransistor. If the device was offered as a separate component the layers10 and 12 could have been omitted and the P-type layer 20 could have abondpad attached to its lower surface. However, when the transistor 2 isfabricated in an integrated circuit then the P-type layer 20 isconnected to the upper surface of the device by the P-type regions 22.The P-type layer 20 and the P-type regions 22 may be relatively heavilydoped, and in some nomenclatures may be described as P⁺ where the “+”denotes heavy or enhanced doping levels. A metal contact 24 makescurrent flow connection at a surface of the P-type region(s) 22 to forma collector terminal. As the current density near the contact 24 isquite high, a region of very highly doped P type semiconductor 26 may beprovided to reduce contact resistance.

Above the P-type layer 20 is a less heavily doped P-type region 30. Thisis sometimes designated as P⁻ where the “−” sign indicates light orreduced doping intensity. Typically the doping concentration is between100 and 1000 times less than in the P-type layer 20, but values outsideof this range are possible. Above the P-type region 30 is an N-typeregion 40, which forms the base of the transistor 2. An island of P-typeregion 50 is formed within the N-type region 40, and forms the emitterof the device. A metal contact 42 is provided above the base region 40to act as the base terminal, and a region 44 of enhanced N-type dopingmay be provided below the base terminal to facilitate current flow byoffering a lower contact impedance.

The person skilled in the art often describes the transistor as havingan intrinsic part and an extrinsic part. The intrinsic part is locatedbeneath the base region, and generally in the region designated 60. Theextrinsic part is the remainder of the device.

As is well known to the person skilled in the art, when P-type andN-type semiconductor materials are in contact, the holes in the P-typematerial tend to diffuse into the N-type material, and the electrons inthe N-type material tend to diffuse into the P-type material. Thediffusion upsets charge neutrality and creates an electrostaticpotential at the junction, which in turn creates a region where most ofthe carriers have been removed, known as a depletion layer. Thedepletion layer has higher resistivity than the surroundingsemiconductor so the strongest electric fields within a transistor occurat or near the boundaries of dissimilar semiconductor types.

As previously noted, process parameters effect the breakdown voltage.Such parameters include doping concentrations, and the distances thatdopants penetrate the semiconductor material. A process that, forexample, is used to produce devices suitable for working at a nominalvoltage, such as a 36 V process, may result in transistors having abreakdown voltage roughly twice the nominal operating voltage, such asaround 70 V.

Up to this point, breakdown has been discussed as if it is a singleprocess, but in fact breakdown can occur in different ways and underdifferent operating conditions. A device may for example be “on,”passing a current between the collector and emitter, and breakdown inthis operating mode can be due to different mechanisms than those thatcause the device to breakdown when it is non-conducting (“off”).

FIG. 2 shows measurements of breakdown current for an exemplary PNPtransistor under test as the voltage difference between its collectorand emitter terminals was varied from 0 to nearly −70 volts.

For the measurement “Bvces” the device was off, with the base being heldat 0V, along with the emitter. The collector voltage was swept from zerovolts and became increasingly negative.

For the measurement “Bvceo” the device was on, nominally with the baseopen, but in practice with a current sink controlling the base currentat a very small predetermined value.

It can be seen that in the test device both breakdown voltages are thesame. This is indicative of the same phenomenon being implicated in bothbreakdown events.

The inventors investigated further and built computer simulations of thetransistor.

FIG. 3 illustrates a portion of the transistor shown in FIG. 1 ingreater detail, and specifically focuses on the region near the surfaceof the device that includes the emitter, base and collector regions. Aswell as showing nominal device structure, it also shows electric fieldgradients.

Although the device structures, such as the base and the collector havebeen shown as being well defined, it should be appreciated that duringfabrication the ion implantation process on other doping processtypically occurs from above the surface of the device so dopantconcentrations are typically greater near the surface and naturallydecrease with increasing depth into the wafer. Following implantation, adiffusion step is performed where the wafer is heated. This allowsdopants to spread, helping smear out local discontinuities in dopantconcentration. However, diffusion occurs in all directions so thenotionally sharp delineation between the base region and P-type region30 of FIG. 1 becomes a smoother change in concentration and hence thetransistor does not have a sharp boundary between these regions.

It should also be noted that higher dopant concentrations near ajunction between dissimilarly doped materials means that the depletionregion is smaller and hence any voltage difference between thedissimilar regions is dropped across a smaller distance, and hence theelectrostatic field gradient is higher.

Given that implantation generally occurs from above, it follows that thehighest field gradients tend to be near the surface of the transistor,even after the thermal diffusion step has occurred.

Additionally, it is known from electrostatic theory that the fieldgradient increases around a curved surface. The formation of the baselayer gives rise to a structure having a nominally flat lower surface(which can be regarded as part of a cylinder of infinite radius) withcurved edges, which can be regarded as a cylinder with a radius that issimilar to the diffusion distance. Thus the curvature at the edge of thebase region gives rise to a field strength enhancement.

FIG. 3 shows a small portion of the device representing the firstportion to suffer breakdown occurring at a region 100 adjacent the edgeof the base region 40. This interface marks the interface between thebase region 40 and the collector, known as the base-collector junction,where the field gradient may exceed 5×10⁵ volts per meter. The region104 enclosed by broken line 106 has a field gradient that may be greaterthan 4×10⁵ volts per meter. The region 110 bounded by broken line 112has a field gradient that may be between 3×10⁵ and 4×10⁵ volts permeter.

FIG. 3 also shows the edge 120 of the depletion region 121 around thecollector structure. The depletion region 121 has extended towards thebase region 40. Thus, the distance over which the base-to-collectorvoltage difference is dropped is reduced, again prompting an increase inlocalized field gradients. The high field gradient provokes an avalanchebreakdown in region 100, with carriers (in this case electrons), beingswept towards and injected into the base region 40. These carriers actlike a signal to turn the device on, and if the current flow in thedevice is not limited by an external factor, the collector current willincrease until the device becomes damaged.

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3, but shows the simulated field gradientsinside the device when the base is passing a control current. As withFIG. 3, breakdown occurs with the generation of a region 100 of highfield potential near the surface of the device at the base-collectorjunction.

Simulations also show, as shown in FIG. 5, that when the device is onbut just a few volts below the onset of breakdown the extremely highfield gradient, i.e., region 100, at the corner of the base region ismissing.

In accordance with preferred embodiments, the creation of the extremelyhigh field gradients at the corner of the base region can be reduced bythe fabrication of additional structures within the bipolar transistor.

As shown in FIG. 6, a guard region 200 is fabricated in the surfaceregion of the device surrounding the base region 40. The guard region200, when viewed from above the transistor, encircles the base region 40and hence can also be called a guard ring. However, “ring” in thiscontext only denotes a closed loop structure, and does not necessarilyimply a circular shape. For example, rectangular loops can be used. Alsoshown is a field isolation layer 210 which is commonly fabricated at thesurface of the semiconductor, as is well known to the person skilled inthe art. In the illustrated embodiment, part of the field isolationlayer 210 insulates the base region 40 from the guard region 200. Afinal passivating or insulating layer, e.g., of silicon dioxide, is thendeposited over the surface of the device, with only the metal contactsextending through it. Such isolation is a standard feature in devicefabrication and need not be described further.

As in FIG. 1, the collector region 20 and emitter region 50 of FIG. 6are both doped to be P-type semiconductor material. Also like FIG. 1,the base region 40 and guard region 200 of FIG. 6 are doped to be N-typesemiconductor material. Thus, the collector 20 and emitter 50 have onetype of conductivity, while the base region 40 and the guard region 200have another, opposite type of conductivity. One of skill in the artwill appreciate that in other embodiments the dopant types may beswitched, i.e., the base region 40 and the guard region 200 may be dopedto be P-type semiconductor material and the collector region 20 andemitter region 50 may be doped to be N-type semiconductor material.

Forming both the guard layer 200 and base region 40 from material of thesame conductivity type can be advantageous. The guard region 200 can beadvantageously implanted at the same time as the base region 40.Consequently forming the guard region 200 does not incur any extraprocessing steps and can be formed using the same doping mask as for thebase region 40. Accordingly, the guard layer 200 and the base region 40have the same type of conductivity, and will also have the same maximumconcentration of dopant within those regions, although the differentgeometries may lead to slightly different extents of diffusion. Theguard region 200 has the effect of widening the space charge regionaround the edge of the PN junction formed between the base 40 andcollector 20. Additionally, the guard region 200 is not connected to anycontacts. This allows it to float to a voltage which is intermediate thebase voltage and the collector voltage.

This in turn means that the field gradients are reduced because thebase-collector voltage is dropped over a larger distance within thetransistor.

In the absence of a guard region, the depletion layer would extend fromthe base-collector by a distance, d, at a voltage just less than thevoltage required to cause breakdown to occur. When the guard region 200is implanted it can be positioned such that, in the finished transistor,the edge of the guard region 200 is spaced from the base-collectorjunction by less than the distance, d.

In some embodiments, a further intermediate region may be includedbetween the base region 40 and the collector region 20. In FIG. 6, thisintermediate region is a less heavily doped P-type region 30. The dopingconcentration of P-type region 30 typically ranges from less heavilydoped than the collector region 20 to not doped at all, otherwisereferred to as intrinsic semiconductor.

FIG. 7 shows the lateral region 250 of the device of FIG. 6 in greaterdetail. FIG. 7 also shows lines of equipotential within the device for abase 40 and emitter 50 held at 0 V and a collector held at −80 V.

In this example, the guard region 200 has been formed such that itfloats to a voltage approximately half way between the base and thecollector voltages. In so doing it reduces the field gradient at theedge of the base region 40. This means that a higher voltage can beapplied between the collector 20 and the base 40 before the fieldgradient becomes sufficiently big to cause avalanche breakdown to occur.The inclusion of the guard region 200 modifies the potential gradientswithin the transistor 2. Lines of equipotential, and their voltage, areschematically included within FIG. 7. The edge of the base region 40still experiences quite high field gradients at the surface of thetransistor in the region 270 compared to the gradient around otherportions of the base region 40. However, the field gradient issignificantly reduced and consequently the field gradients do not induceimpact ionization driven breakdown processes, even though in thisexample the collector voltage is at −80 Volts which for the identicaldevice but omitting the guard region (as shown in FIG. 3) exceeds thebreakdown voltage, as shown in FIG. 2.

It can be seen that a second zone of voltage drop occurs at the surfaceof the device in a region designated 280 at an edge facing towards theregion 22 of P-type material that electrically connects and brings thecollector layer 20 to the surface of the device.

One way of considering the effect of the guard region 200 is to regardit as spreading the depletion layer out around the base 40, andeffectively increasing its radius of curvature and thereby reducingcurvature-enhanced field gradients.

The inventors investigated the effect of different separations betweenthe guard region 200 and the base 40. The results of this investigationare shown in FIG. 8.

The effect of guard region separation from the base for separationdistances (prior to thermal diffusion) of 4, 5, 6 and 7 micrometers (μm)were investigated. The guard region voltage was measured as thecollector voltage was swept from zero volts to the device breakdownvoltage. The guard region in the experiments was 3 μm wide and theseparation distance is measured from the edge of the aperture in a maskdefining where the base region is implanted to the nearest edge of theaperture in the mask defining where the guard region is implanted. Thewidth of the guard ring is not particularly important provided that itis wide enough to be formed reliably.

It can be seen that when the guard region 200 is relatively close to thecollector (smaller spacing, e.g., 4 μm), little of the collector voltageis transferred to the guard region, and consequently the field gradientat the edge of the base is not significantly reduced. Thus for the 4 μmguard region, when the collector is at −50 V the guard region is only ataround −8 V, so the bulk of the base collector voltage is dropped in theremaining (>4 μm) distance between the guard region 200 and the base 40.As the guard region distance from the base is increased, the guardregion floats to a greater proportion of the collector voltage so, forexample at a collector voltage of −50 volts the 5 μm separated guardregion is at around −30 V, whereas the 6 μm and 7 μm separated guardregions are at about −44 V. This would seem to suggest that for thisdevice the guard region is preferably between 4 μm and 5 μm from thecollector. However, the width of the guard region also has an effect onthe operation of the device. The circles at the end of each line markthe onset of breakdown.

With reference to FIG. 9, in one embodiment, an enhancement to thebreakdown voltage can be achieved by placing a metal conductor 290 over,but insulated from, the guard region an extending some of the distancefrom the guard region to the collector contact.

Such a metal layer, which can be regarded as a field plate, whenconnected to the base terminal causes the depletion of the N-typesemiconductor around the guard region 200 to be extended laterally. Thisin turn reduces the radius of curvature of the depletion layer, whichresults in a further reduction of the electric field gradient at theedge of the guard region. This means that the guard region can bepositioned such that it, in the absence of the conductor would havebreakdown occurring at its edge facing towards the collector connection22. The field plate then acts to reduce the field gradient at this edgeby extending the depletion layer. This results in a further enhancementof the breakdown voltage.

FIG. 9 schematically illustrates electric field gradient reduction withlines 300, 300 a and 300 b, which delineate the boundaries of regions302, 302 a and 302 b having electric field gradients of around, forexample, 3×10⁵ Vm⁻¹ from regions of lesser field gradient, for a devicehaving a metallic field plate 290 which, although as appearing incross-section to be two plates is in fact a single structure connectingtogether above and below the plane of the diagram such that it is at thesame potential, as schematically designated by electrical connection294. It will be understood that regions 302, 302 b also represent asingle annular region.

FIG. 10 schematically shows the field gradient for the same device asillustrated in FIG. 9, but with the field plate 290 omitted. FIG. 10illustrates a region 305 that the boundary 300 has not extended into,compared to the equivalent device shown in FIG. 9. Thus the fieldgradient is higher around the edge of the guard region 200 in the devicewithout the field plate 290 compared to the device having the fieldplate 290. This shows that the field plate has caused the depletionlayer to spread in the transistor shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 shows a plan view of the exemplary prior art transistor ofFIG. 1. The transistor 2 is one of many formed in an integrated circuit320. Metal tracks 322, 324 and 326 represent higher metallizationpatterns making interconnections to the emitter, base and collectorregions of the transistor and are shown in outline.

FIG. 12 shows how the device of FIG. 11 is modified by the inclusion ofthe guard region 200 spaced from and surrounding or encircling the baseregion 40 at the surface of the transistor. This modification enablesthe transistor 2 to be fabricated with an enhanced breakdown voltage,while not requiring any process changes beyond a modified mask. Theguard region 200 can be implanted in the same processing step thatimplants the base 40. The field plate can be formed in the samemetallization steps that form interconnections on the surface of thecircuit. The field plate can also be used to ensure that the integratedcircuit manufacturer does not lay any other conductors whose voltage isnot known over critical junctions within the transistor. This may avoidfurther unknown electric fields being induced in the transistor.

It is thus possible to provide an improved transistor.

Applications

Transistors as described herein can be implemented in various electronicdevices. Examples of the electronic devices can include high speedsignal processing chips, power regulators, memory chips, memory modules,circuits of optical networks or other communication networks, and diskdriver circuits. Products in which such electronics can be incorporatedinclude, but are not limited to, consumer electronic products, parts ofthe consumer electronic products, electronic test equipments, etc. Theconsumer electronic products can include, but are not limited to, amobile phone, cellular base stations, a telephone, a television, acomputer monitor, a computer, a hand-held computer, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a microwave, a refrigerator, a stereo system, acassette recorder or player, a DVD player, a CD player, a VCR, an MP3player, a radio, a camcorder, a camera, a digital camera, a portablememory chip, a washer, a dryer, a washer/dryer, a copier, a facsimilemachine, a scanner, a multi functional peripheral device, a wrist watch,a clock, etc. Further, the electronic device can include unfinishedproducts.

Although this invention has been described in terms of certainembodiments, other embodiments that are apparent to those of ordinaryskill in the art, including embodiments that do not provide all of thefeatures and advantages set forth herein, are also within the scope ofthis invention. Moreover, the various embodiments described above can becombined to provide further embodiments. In addition, certain featuresshown in the context of one embodiment can be incorporated into otherembodiments as well. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention isdefined only by reference to the appended claims.

1. An apparatus comprising a bipolar transistor, the bipolar transistorcomprising a collector region, a base region, an emitter region, afloating guard region separated from and surrounding the base region,and a field isolation layer at least partially between the guard regionand the base region.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the emitterregion and the collector region have a first conductivity type, and thebase region and the floating guard region have a second conductivitytype, wherein the second conductivity type is opposite the firstconductivity type.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the floatingguard region and the base region have approximately the same maximumdoping concentration.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fieldisolation layer is disposed at a surface of semiconductor material ofthe bipolar transistor.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bipolartransistor comprises a depletion region around the edge of a PN junctionformed between the base region and the collector region, and wherein thefloating guard region is configured to extend the depletion region. 6.An apparatus comprising a bipolar transistor, the bipolar transistorcomprising a collector region, a base region, an emitter region, a guardregion spaced from and surrounding the base region, and a fieldisolation layer configured to insulate at least a portion of the baseregion from the guard region.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein thebipolar transistor is a vertical transistor with the collector regionextending beneath the base region.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, whereinat least one connection region extends from the collector region to asurface of the bipolar transistor, the at least one connection regionproviding an electrical connection to the collector region at a surfaceof the bipolar transistor.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein an otherfield isolation layer is configured to insulate at least a portion ofthe at least one connection region from the guard ring.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 6, wherein the guard region comprises material havingthe same conductivity as material of the base region.
 11. The apparatusof claim 10, wherein the guard region and the base region haveapproximately the same maximum doping concentration.
 12. The apparatusof claim 6, further comprising an insulating layer disposed above thebase region, the guard region, and the field isolation layer.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 6, wherein an edge of the guard region is separatedby between approximately 4 and 6 μm from an edge of the base region. 14.The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the guard region is a guard ring thatencircles the base region.
 15. The apparatus of claim 6, furthercomprising a further region of semiconductor material intermediate thebase region and the collector region, wherein the doping concentrationof the further region is in a range from less heavily doped than thecollector region, and wherein the field isolation layer is disposedabove the further region and the collector is disposed below the furtherregion.
 16. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the bipolar transistorcomprises a depletion region around the edge of a PN junction formedbetween the base region and the collector region, and wherein the guardregion is configured to spread out the depletion region.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 6, wherein the guard region is configured to float.18. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the guard region is notelectrically connected to a contact.
 19. The apparatus of claim 6,further comprising a field plate disposed above the guard region.
 20. Anapparatus comprising a bipolar transistor, the bipolar transistorcomprising a collector region, a base region, an emitter region, and afloating guard region spaced apart from and surrounding the base region,wherein at least a portion of the base region is insulated from theguard region, and wherein an edge of the floating guard region isbetween approximately 3 and 7 μm from an edge of the base region. 21.The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the edge of the floating guard regionis between approximately 4 and 6 μm from the edge of the base region.22. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a field plate disposedabove the floating guard region.